


band-aids

by cams22



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, JJ (Outer Banks) Needs a Hug, Kie's there to give it to him, Luke Maybank's A+ Parenting, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29722788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cams22/pseuds/cams22
Summary: JJ comes back from his dad’s. Kie’s there to help him, no matter how much he pretends he doesn’t need it.
Relationships: JJ & Kiara (Outer Banks), JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	band-aids

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I wrote this really spontaneously today. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> tw// mentions of abuse and blood. Please do not read if these may be triggering to you.

It was common knowledge that JJ could be found at the Chateau. The house was founded by the brotherhood that existed between John B and JJ, third grade having brought the boys together. Pope and Kiara followed soon after but in all the years that Kie had known JJ, she had always found that he was just there at the old house. He would be found lounging on the pull-out when she arrived in the morning and would always be sleeping over late into the night. It was just normal and Kie never questioned it because it was just JJ, the JJ who turned everything into a joke and who attempted to jump from the roof to the blow up pool floatie that lived to see the 30 minutes between JJ scaling the walls to Kie screaming at him to _get his ass down!_

She had heard whispers of Luke Maybank’s reputation from around town, calling him a ‘belligerent drunk who didn’t know his ass from his right hand,’ to, ‘a man who you wouldn’t want to be within 10 miles of.’ Kiara ignored the comments because who cared? She was best friends with JJ, not his dad and while they may share the infamous Maybank blond hair, the comparison stopped there. JJ was everything his dad wasn’t- a loyal as a dog, fun-loving dumbass with a shit eating grin who could charm his way out of anything. Her best friend.

As they got older, however, Kiara began to notice little things about JJ like how sometimes she’ll notice him walk a little slower, like he needs more effort and when she asked him about it, his responses were always the same: “Aw Kie, have you gone soft on me now?” with claims of falling off bikes and surfing accidents. They weren’t far off- JJ was always getting into some sort of trouble being reckless so it really feels like a same shit, different day type situation until occasional limping turns into black eyes and split lips.

It was well known that JJ and Kooks were like oil and water and his reputation for seeking a fight with his quick mouth preceded him, leading him into some trouble with the older Kook kids who are so bored from swiping credit cards and sipping cocktails on their boats that a shot to get one in with the scrappy Pogue boy was one too good to pass up. So Kie’s had some practice patching the boys up (mostly JJ and John B- Pope is far too practical to be starting anything with the Kooks while looking for scholarships.) A first aid box had a permanent fixture in the bathroom drawer and was pulled out far more frequently than Kie would care for and with every band aid the boys get, she’s sure to give them an earful over starting stupid fights with stupid people and fixes them with a hard glare before sending them off with the Spider-Man band aids that ‘accidentaly’ slipped into JJ’s pockets from the drug store because, “Come _on_ Kie, Peter Parker would want me to have them and how am I going to refuse Spider-Man?”

She’s laying on the hammock at the Chateau messing around on her ukelele, strumming a few chords to a Marley song and even singing softly, a rarity for Kie because anyone who knows her knows better than to ask her to sing- sober, anyway. The house is empty- Pope’s off studying and Big John took John B for a weekend fishing trip and the Chateau was always a free for all for any of the Pogues so when Kie finds it empty needing some time away from her parents’ suffocation, she just figures that JJ’s working. She knows her mom and dad mean well- they want the best for her like any parents would but Kiara doesn’t understand how they don’t see that this, her life with her boys on the Cut, is the best thing that ever could have happened to her because she found her three best friends in the world, her family, and what else could she possibly need?

Kie strums the uke, enjoying the peacefulness of her scenery as a gentle summer breeze tickles her cheek and the clouds pass the sky until she hears laboured breathing and heavy steps. In her periphery, she sees a figure. Confused, she turns and her breath catches in her throat.

“What the fuck?” She blurts out before she can really stop herself because she’s met with a sight she never wants to see again because it's JJ standing there, battered and bruised. Blotches of purple marred his jaw and his lip was split and dried blood was smeared along his face. His knuckles are clenched but Kiara can see that they’re red and there's a sharp cut on his cheekbone and there’s no mistaking it's from a fist to the face.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Kie?”

“It doesn’t matter, Jesus JJ, what happened to you?” she asks hopping out of the hammock and coming closer to him. He flinches briefly before turning away from her and walking inside the house and making a beeline for the fridge before grabbing the closest beer and chugging it, white foam covering deep red.

“JJ, what happened?” Kie is near desperate by this point, she’s never seen him like this. JJ’s been in his fair share of scuffles and been on the receiving end of some right-hooks but never this badly and never like this. He always cracks jokes, calling her Doctor Carrera and telling her how she’d look totally hot in a nurses uniform earning him a slap upside the head but now he was so… defeated. So empty.

JJ takes another beer and pops the tab open, again chugging. It's not as strong as he would like and he’s ruffling through drawers and cupboards frantically because _goddammit John B, where is the vodka?_ A thought that is very Luke Maybank and he hates it with all his being. The thought of being even slightly close to resembling Luke makes him sick but _was that not what he was destined to do all along? Become an abusive drunk that can’t hold a job longer than a week and blows any earnings on Barry the fucking drug dealer?_ He thinks bitterly. but isn’t that what people were always saying about him? Like father, like son?

Kie is panicking by this stage because JJ is making a mess in the kitchen and he’s downed two beers in the span of two minutes and she’s had enough.

“JJ! What are you doing? What the hell happened to you? Let me see, I think the first aid kit is around here somewhere and if you’d just stand still I can help you, just stand still- ” she says, trying to catch his arm to make him turn and face her.

“Will you shut up Kiara! Shut the fuck up, I don’t need your fucking help so why don’t you go ask someone who gives a shit?” he yells, slamming his hand on the counter, facing away from her, hands gripping the counter like a lifeline. Her sheer concern is so overwhelming and she’s looking at him like he’s a turtle on the beach that needs saving and he just can’t deal right now.

He’ll never forget how she jumped and how he was the reason why.

A silence falls upon them and JJ’s ragged breaths are all that can be heard between the pair before Kie, very slowly, not wanting to startle the damaged boy, because that's all he really is, he’s just a kid who deserves more from a world that’s stacked against him and she doesn’t see the anger that stands in front of her but instead she sees a boy who’s hurting and most importantly, she sees her best friend. 

In the softest voice she can muster, Kie says, “Okay JJ, we don’t have to talk but please, just let me clean you up. I promise, no talking.”

Surprise crosses JJ’s features for a split second as he turns to her and waits a beat. His blue eyes are deep and dark, dulled by beer and stinging cheeks. The ache in Kie’s heart increases tenfold and very quietly she hears, “Okay.”

Kie gives him a small smile and tries to make her movements as controlled and gentle as possible, not wanting to scare him off just as she’s talked him down. She leads him to the bathroom and rummages for the first aid kit, which really is so banged up that it needs its own first aid kit by this point and grabs some gauze and antiseptic. She pauses, not wanting to touch him without his permission and asks, “Can I?” 

JJ nods slightly and Kie gently blots the cut on his cheek, wincing as she imagines the sting from the chemicals but JJ is unmoving, his pain tolerance always having been high and Kie hates it because he shouldn’t have enough experience with this to build a tolerance to it and in this moment, Kie realises this is Luke Maybank’s doing.

She does the best she can to patch him up before moving to his hands. There's little cuts and scrapes and there's significant swelling. There’s a cut that’s a bit bigger than the rest and she makes a small show of putting the infamous Spider-Man band aid on and she thinks she almost sees him smile. It takes a bit of antiseptic but Kie thinks that she’s done the most she can before she realises that JJ’s hands are shaking and she looks up and sees his lip quiver and tears in his eyes. It's unmistakable shame, shame at having her see him like this, shame for yelling at her and shame for even after everything, still loving him.

And Kiara takes one look and him and says _fuck it,_ and engulfs him in a hug.

“I’m sorry JJ, I’m so, so sorry,” she tells him, her eyes filling with her own tears. He’s breaking down in her arms and her heart is breaking with each and every sob. She doesn’t know how long they stand in their embrace. It feels like years but in reality, it's probably only a few minutes but slowly, JJ’s breaths slow and he’s no longer crying. She pulls back and offers a smile that she tries to make seem reassuring but her eyes are rimmed red and it's clear that she's been crying too. But it's a relief to see the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. It’s a far cry from his usual shit eating grin that’s as wide as the sea but it's something and that's what matters.

She pulls back and her eyes meet his and for one moment in his world of pain, JJ is struck emotion as he stares at his best friend and his eyes flicker to her lips and their close proximity becomes apparent to her and Kie tries to collect herself as best she can because she needs to be strong to for JJ and with a deep breath, she begins to pick up the medical supplies and slips out the bathroom without a word, wanting to give JJ a bit of space. It gives her some time to clean the kitchen and try to make JJ something to eat. Over the years, she’s made sure that the boys know that she’s not their mother and she refuses to fuss over them like one but there's a difference between that and genuine care toward her boys and it's a line that Kiara has made final. But right now, just right now, she’d pick up his mess and help him because he needs it and when it came down to it, she knows that any of the boys would do the same for her because they are Pogues, and Pogues watch out for other Pogues.

She’s boiling water for the stray packet of pasta that she miraculously found when she hears the shower start and she’s prepping the sauce when she hears the water turn off. Her timing is perfect because a bowl is being set on the table just as he steps outside, clad in faded blue sweatpants that look suspiciously like John B’s and a hoodie that was most definitely worn by Pope the last time she saw him. He sees her before she sees him and he stands in the hallway, debating if he should say anything when she looks up and sees him.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

A beat.

“I made some pasta. It took a bit of searching but John B actually had the right ingredients if you can believe it,” she says, trying a joke that comes off a little more uncertain than she’d hoped. But it's what JJ needs to come and sit down, She’s never seen him so out of character, so uncertain. The JJ she knows oozes confidence and bravado so to see him so sheepish, it's a reminder of all that his dad has taken from him over the years and Kie hates it.

They eat in silence, the occasional tap of forks against the bowls interrupting the silence that screams of words unspoken. Kie tries to look at him, catch his eye but JJ’s looking down at his food like it's the most interesting thing in the world and Kie is too shaken to eat much.

JJ finishes his bowl and sits, shoulders hunched and hair in his face until he sees Kiara get up and something rushes through him as he remembers the way that he’d reacted toward her earlier and he feels like shit after all she’s done for him. He catches her arm.

“Kie, I’m so so-”

“I know JJ, it's okay. Don't worry.”

“No Kie, it's not okay, I was an ass, I yelled at you when I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry,” he says, looking straight into her eyes, desperate for her to forgive him. But there’s nothing to forgive.

“If I got upset every time you were an ass, I don’t think we’d ever speak,” says Kie with a smile. A smile that means that there’s nothing wrong between the two and JJ offers one back.

He looks behind her and sees the kitchen back into its normal state and looks at the bowl of pasta in front of him and he’s overcome by emotion once again and Kie’s smile turns panicked because oh god, what’s happened now?

“JJ? What’s wrong, are you okay?”

He looks up at her, eyes full of emotion.

“Thank you, Kie. Really.”

And she knows it’s for more than just the first aid and pasta.

“I’m sorry JJ.”

“It’s fine, Kie. It’s no big deal, he didn’t even get me that good, the old man is getting slow. Honest Kie, it’s better for you to just drop it.”

Is he fucking serious? “No!”

“Kie-”

They've officially passed the no talking rule but she can’t really bring herself to care, not when the emotions of the past hour have come rushing back to them. She can’t let him blow off what just happened, like it was normal for him to come back from his own house battered. She can’t, she won’t.

“No JJ! That’s bullshit, no, you can’t just think that this is okay, like it’s just some other fucking Saturday, like some routine! God, JJ, how do you not see that? You- you deserve more than this, you can’t keep telling yourself that its ‘no big deal’ because it is a big deal, it’s a really big fucking deal. We need you JJ, the real JJ, not the one that comes back from your dad’s house!” She's yelling now, her voice increasing with each word and there are tears in her eyes.

JJ laughs. Not like the laugh like the time that JJ dared John B to flip off the Pogue and he wiped out or even a laugh at Pope’s horrific attempt to flirt with a pretty Touron. This was a poisonous sound, so bitter and filled with spite.

“The real JJ? Kie didn’t you hear the way I spoke to you today? I fucking scared you, that sounds pretty Luke Maybank to me. We don’t only share our last name, you know.”

If her heart was glass, it would be in a million pieces by now.

“JJ look at me,” she says, stepping forward, taking him by the shoulders, demanding eye contact. “You are nothing like that monster and you never will be. Ever. Do you hear me?”

JJ looks down at her Converse and at the faded paint splatter that stained the floor after Kie’s painting phase turned into an all out paint war among the four resulting in more paint being on the walls than on her canvas.

“Do you hear me JJ? There is nothing that you could do that would ever make me scared of you because you would never hurt me because you are not your father. You are JJ, you’re an idiot, a dumbass idiot but you’re also the funniest person I know and I’d trust you with my life without thinking. You’re my best friend. And I don’t care how many times I have to say it. You are not your father. Do you understand?” She is firm and speaks with the finality of fact because this is fact. JJ is not his father.

He looks up and blue eyes meet brown. A second passes and it feels like too little time but it also feels like the rest of their lives as they watch each other. He nods. She opens her mouth to say something more but the words never come out because she’s met by the smell of weed and the sea and JJ’s in her arms again before she can continue.

And as she runs her hand through his soft hair, she whispers, “You are loved, JJ.”

And even after everything, after every punch and slurred taunt thrown his way, he believes her.

“Thank you Kie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. This is my second story, feel free to check out my first one, 'for you, i would,' It would mean a lot. Comments are always welcomed and loved! Please feel free to comment any suggestions. Thank you again.
> 
> -S


End file.
